Change My Mind (Liam Payne Fiction)

Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The room that the Byrnes gave Liam was the best one; the only one on the top of the four-story house.  It was actually two rooms, with a private bathroom.  The sloped ceiling that was made of closely-joined logs started low in the corner, and went up to about fifteen feet where it met the far wall which is made up of knotty pine.  The floors were polished cedar, and mostly covered with ornate rugs.  It was the only room that remained in the same rustic style as the original theme of the house, but the facilities – flat screens, stereos, Jacuzzi! – were completely modern, and Liam loved it. 

Smack in the middle of the room was a king sized bed, and maybe it was the overwhelming amount of pillows that made him feel like he was sleeping on clouds, or maybe it was his exhaustion over mucking the stalls, but Liam had never fallen asleep that fast before. 

Or that short.

He woke to gentle knocking on his door.  “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!” Aria. 

Rise and shine? It wasn’t even close to dawn! “I didn’t ask for a wake-up call,” he muttered.  “Go ‘way.”

The knocking became louder.  “Let’s go, Mr. Payne,” he heard Mr. Byrne faintly. 

Liam pulled the blanket over his head and attempted to settle back to sleep.  This is a nightmare, he told himself.  This is a mistake.  Go back to sleep.

“Come on!” It was Aria again, and her knocking became even more frantic so he couldn’t possibly ignore it.  “Let’s exercise the horses!”

“Blargh,” Liam screamed into the pillow.

“Is that a yes?”

Aria lifted her hand once more to knock on the door with all her might when the door suddenly opened.  She teetered forward, and collided into something hard.  And warm. 

Liam’s chest.

His naked chest. 

She forced her eyes open and was greeted by its smooth planes.  She wanted to avert her eyes, but it seemed like they had minds of their own.  Her gaze moved down to his chiseled torso, to his tight abs, down to …

“Ehrm,” Liam cleared his throat and Aria pushed away thoughts of that sculpted v-shaped thing on each side of his lower abs. 

She didn’t want him to see her face which she was sure was fire truck-red by now, so she looked down. 

Big mistake! She already saw Liam’s morning “buddy” and she felt her ears get hotter and hotter, and her face redder and redder.

Liam found her discomfort entertaining and let out a laugh that brought Aria back to reality. 

“Laugh all you want now, Payne,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster.  “Because your lessons start in an hour and you will not be laughing when I’m through with you.”

********

“You look great, Daddy Directioner,” Niall told Liam on Sunday night.  He just got back to New York from Connecticut and was on a Skype video conference call with the boys.

“You’re a lousy liar, Horan.  How could I look great when I feel like a dying jellyfish?” he asked, laughing but not joking. 

Harry reappeared in one of the Skype boxes on the iPad’s screen, sweet corn in one hand, and apple juice in the other.  “How did your weekend in the boonies go?” he asked.

“My weekend was …” Liam tried to think of the best way to describe his training with Aria Byrne.  “…interesting,” he finally settled.